2009 was a really tough year for almost everybody I know.
For us, it started when my wife lost two jobs. When she got to feeling down about that, I used to remind her that she was one of the very few people I knew who got up off the floor both times and went out and found new jobs, each paying 50K, right smack in the middle of a horrible recession. In 2010, she hung on to the second one. Now she loves her work, her work loves her, and the work thing is working out just fine.
It was also in 2009 -- September to be exact -- that I was diagnosed with a benign brain tumor. Knowing the expenses that lay ahead, we started selling stuff.
First to go was my beloved boat. I caught huge numbers of fish on that boat over the ten years I had it. I spent many hours with Betsy and the dogs on the river, went fishing at night with friends. The boat was my favorite 'thing' in life, and it had to go. I sold it for a pittance, but at least we no longer had to pay the price of operating and repairing it.
Once the boat was gone, we looked at each other one evening and almost in chorus chimed: "Now that the boat is gone, we don't need the big gas-guzzling SUV to tow it anymore."
Betsy was driving a Honda sedan at the time, and we launched a search for a station wagon to go with it - a smaller, less costly replacement for the Xterra SUV.
When we search, it's a science.
We cruised every lot we could find, went on the internet until our eyes stung trying to decide what would work. We read every rating for a wagon in Consumer Reports. Most of them either had dismal mileage or horrible reliability. We looked at Small SUV's. Same thing.
During the weeks we searched, CAR became the biggest word on my radar, and I looked at everything attractive with a calculating eye.
I pulled into a business meeting one day, and one of the other people who attends pulled up next to me in his BMW sport wagon. So slick, so very cool.
I mentally slapped myself for even thinking about it. We had a budget of $17,000 for our next car, and we weren't budging. "Someday we'll have a beemer like that", I told Betsy. And myself.
The mind is a sneaky device, sometimes behaving just like that biblical snake.
"What would it hurt", said my mind, "If I just pull into that BMW lot over there and test drive one. After all, it's good to have a real experience and image of what I want someday."
Slither, slither went my mind, and off I went for my first ride in a BMW wagon.
Oh. My. God.
I had never experienced anything like the way that thing drove, the incredible performance and feel. Pant, pant, drool.
So my mind (which I had now named 'Mr. Wheedle') also seized control of my right hand the next time I was looking at used cars on the internet and started calling up BMW wagons. What could it hurt, after all? No way we could afford one of those, and used ones were very scarce.
Until I found one, in Schaumburg, Illinois, a 2004 model, spotless, with 47,000 miles on it. Listed at $16,950!
We bought two $72 dollar airline tickets and flew to Chicago, then drove a rental to Schaumburg. We had made the deal on the phone; we just walked in, signed the papers (for $500 under list price) and hit the road.
Betsy looked at me after several hours of driving and said, "It's my car. I'll let you use it, but ultimately it's mine." I was puffing up for a retort until she said, "That means you'll have to go find a newer bargain Beamer for yourself and pass this one on to me." Well, OK.
The doctors took care of the brain tumor in May of 2010. I recovered, and I gave her the wagon for Christmas in 2010 because she has been such a rock for me all the way through the surgery, and through our marriage.
, we found me a 2005 BMW X-3 in mint condition, low mileage and again a great bargain. It is the four-wheel-drive vehicle we found out we do need when it snows, because we live down in a swale where all roads out are up, and neither the Honda or the BMW wagon have four-wheel-drive.
So now we both drive Beemers, and I have found out that BMW's are quite a test of other people's preconceptions.
Preconception #1: They think you're rich (which we're not): I drove up to a store that sells vacuum cleaners one day because I needed a new one, and I could not get that salesman out of the premium model section. "This will give you lasting value, sir, just like your fine BMW automobile out there."
I've learned to hide the car somewhere if I'm going to negotiate for anything.
Preconception #2: They assume you're a jerk. People give you disdainful looks, cut you off on the road, don't let you out into traffic as much. I have to be aware of my attitude when I'm driving so I don't fall right into that preconception.
Big reality check: One speeding ticket for each of us in the following year also reminded us that those cars make us delicious fair game for policemens.
So now I'm working on correcting those preconceptions in a very practical way; I went out and got a hitch put on the cars so we can tow the canoe trailer with them.
Tow vehicle camouflage.
People's reactions to that should be Mighty Alright.
- The Acolyte
